GOLF PICK 'EM: OPEN MATCHUP BREAKDOWNS

Golf Pick 'Em is back for another season of picks and prizes in the NBC Sports Predictor app.

The free-to-play game has returned in 2021 and continues this week with The Open. Each week participants will choose between a series of head-to-head matchups, plus select an overall tournament champion and winning score.

Participants can compete for weekly cash prizes, with a $50,000 jackpot available for any participants who earn a perfect score (increasing up to $100,000 during some of the biggest events of the year). This week's jackpot will be $100,000. There will also be at least $1,000 awarded each week in guaranteed cash and prizes, even if there is no player with a perfect score.

The U.S. Open featured a jackpot winner, as one user took home $100,200 after picking Jon Rahm to win at 6 under and getting all 10 matchups correct.

Here's a look at some of the keys to this week's set of 10 matchups as the tournament returns from a one-year hiatus and Royal St. George's hosts it for the first time since Darren Clarke's win in 2011:

Jon Rahm vs. Rory McIlroy

Keys: Rahm finished seventh at the Scottish Open in his first start as a major champ, but it wasn't enough to keep Dustin Johnson from re-taking the No. 1 spot in the world rankings. He finished T-11 two years ago at Royal Portrush, the best of four prior Open appearances. McIlroy got his name on the claret jug seven years ago at Royal Liverpool and is making his first Open start since a shocking missed cut in his native Northern Ireland two years ago, following a run of three straight finishes of T-5 or better in this event from 2016-18. He missed the cut last week at Renaissance.

Edge: McIlroy

Brooks Koepka vs. Jordan Spieth

Keys: Koepka nearly got major No. 5 at Kiawah Island, and he finished T-4 the last time The Open was played in 2019. It's one of three top-10s for Koepka in his last four starts in the oldest major dating back to 2015. Spieth lifted the claret jug at Royal Birkdale in 2017, the last time the tournament was held in England, and he has a drought-breaking win at Valero to go along with a Colonial runner-up and T-3 finish at the Masters this spring.

Edge: Spieth

Bryson DeChambeau vs. Justin Thomas

Keys: The last time we saw DeChambeau, he was teaming with Aaron Rodgers to beat Phil Mickelson and Tom Brady in a charity match in Montana. But this is an event where he has struggled, with missed cuts in two of his three starts including a driving range meltdown at Carnoustie in 2018. This will be his first start with new caddie, Ben Ziegler, on the bag. Thomas flashed some form last week in Scotland and will look to build on an Open record that was lean until a T-11 finish two years ago at Portrush.

Edge: Thomas

Louis Oosthuizen vs. Xander Schauffele

Keys: Two guys that put together a ton of great play without a lot of hardware to show for it. Oosthuizen finished second at each of the last two majors, letting a second major slip through his fingers last month at Torrey Pines. This is the one major where he has lifted the trophy, lapping the field at St. Andrews in 2010, and he also lost a playoff there in 2015. Schauffele finished T-7 at Torrey and now has nine top-10 finishes in the majors since 2017, including a T-2 showing three years ago at Carnoustie.

Edge: Oosthuizen

Collin Morikawa vs. Viktor Hovland

Keys: Two accomplished talents ranked inside the top 15 in the world, both of whom are set to make their Open debut. Morikawa's PGA victory last year highlights a run in the majors that also includes a T-4 finish last month at the U.S. Open, and he won a WGC earlier this year and lost a playoff at the Memorial. Hovland won last month on the European Tour, one week after a scratched cornea led to an unexpected withdrawal at Torrey Pines.

Edge: Morikawa

Phil Mickelson vs. Dustin Johnson

Keys: The last time this event was held at Royal St. George's, both men finished T-2 behind Darren Clarke. Mickelson went on to win an Open two years later at Muirfield, and he added a sixth major title earlier this year at Kiawah. The results since that breakthrough, though, have been pretty lean. It's been a similar story in recent weeks for Johnson, who won in Saudi Arabia in February and finished T-10 at Congaree last month but has been largely listless while Rahm passed him atop the world rankings.

Edge: Johnson

Matthew Fitzpatrick vs. Patrick Reed

Keys: Fitzpatrick enters with some momentum, having lost a playoff Sunday at the Scottish Open, and he finished T-20 two years ago at Royal Portrush for his best result in five Open starts. Reed finished T-32 in Detroit and has finished T-28 or better in four of his last five Open starts, including a 10th-place showing two years ago in Northern Ireland.

Edge: Reed

Shane Lowry vs. Francesco Molinari

Keys: The two most recent Open champs, with Molinari winning at Carnoustie while Lowry received a two-year stint as Champion Golfer of the Year after his breakthrough at Royal Portrush. The Irishman has three top-10 finishes in his last six starts and finished T-23 at the Irish Open two weeks ago. Molinari finished T-13 at the U.S. Open but has missed the cut in the other three of his last four starts, including last week in Scotland.

Edge: Lowry

Tyrrell Hatton vs. Tommy Fleetwood

Keys: Two Englishmen facing off in an Open played near London, with Hatton (T-18) having had the edge over Fleetwood (T-26) last week at Renaissance. Hatton missed the cut at Torrey Pines but finished T-2 last month at Congaree, and his Open record includes a T-5 finish at Royal Troon in 2016 and a T-6 finish two years ago in Portrush. Fleetwood was a runner-up two years ago, playing in the final group alongside Lowry, the best of three straight top-30 finishes in The Open after three straight missed cuts from 2015-17.

Edge: Hatton

Justin Rose vs. Patrick Cantlay

Keys: Rose made his debut on the big stage at The Open 23 years ago, finishing T-4 as an amateur at Royal Birkdale. He also finished T-2 three years ago at Carnoustie and notched top-10s at each of the first two majors this year before a missed cut at Torrey. Cantlay now has four straight top-25s since the PGA, including a playoff win last month at the Memorial, and he has finished T-12 and T-41 in his two prior Open appearances.

Edge: Cantlay